Chronicles of Life and Unlife: Chloe and Jonno
by Everything's Slipping Away
Summary: Chloe's chapters for 'Chronicles of Life and Unlife', a series of YD fics started by my good friend Werepuppy. Update: Now hosts some Jonno chapters as well
1. Nothing Comes for Free

_Author's note: This is in the same 'verse as my friend Werepuppy's YD fic series_ 'The Chronicles of Life and Unlife' _from Chloe's POV. She's sort of on the Slayers side of things. I'm really happy that she liked it enough for it to be part of that canon (go check out the current fics in the series, she's an amazing writer), so I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing this and as much as I'm sure I'll enjoy writing for Chloe in the future. Read, review and...well...enjoy. ^__^_

Nothing comes for free

"I'm really sorry about Robin." Chloe smiled apologetically, spinning spaghetti round her fork absent-mindedly, "I don't know what's got into him these days."

"It's alright." Vlad grinned, apparently unfazed by the broken nose Robin had surprisingly managed to give him, "I've had worse, and he's just being protective. I might be his best friend, but you're still his little sister."

"I'm nineteen." She murmured bitterly under her breath, "I stopped being little ages ago."

"He doesn't quite see it that way." He replied, still grinning, "You're always going to be his little sister. You just need to remind him you're growing up."

"I try. Every day." She rolled her eyes, sighing.

She considered herself to be the more level-headed one between her and her brothers, especially compared to Ian and Paul, and yet she was still here, taking a stupid risk so she could go on a date with the guy her older brother had punched. It was a good thing she had plenty of good excuses to be out that she'd stored up over the years in case of emergencies…what emergencies? She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she knew there'd been some reason to need reasons to go out that wouldn't raise any suspicion.

"So what excuse did you use this time?" He asked, almost as if she'd read her mind. He had strong intuition, one of the things she liked so much about him. That, and his eyes…eyes you could easily get yourself lost in if you weren't careful.

"Said I was going down to the uni bar with a few friends." She replied, after she registered what he'd actually said, "I have to be back home by one."

"Plenty of time." He smirked, a sort of lop-sided smirk that Chloe was certain even the most rational of people would melt at the sight of. She didn't like being hopelessly attracted to him, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't resist his charm, a charm like no other she knew.

Just at that moment, her phone rang, startling her into dropping her fork, the clatter from her clumsiness attracting some unwanted attention from a few other diners. Vlad stared them down calmly, but with an odd air of menace, and they soon returned to their own business. She looked down at the caller ID and the tiniest flicker of nerves flashed through her eyes, "It's…Robin."

"Answer it then." He smiled, "I'm sure you can put him off the trail."

She took a deep breath to calm herself and answered, "Robin, why are you calling? Did something happen?"

"Yeah." Robin sounded more serious than usual, "You lied, didn't you?"

"What're you talking about? I'm out with Sarah and Tina, like I said." She replied, keeping her tone level.

"Quiet bar, isn't it?" He replied, his annoyance and disappointment at his sister clear as day, "Would've thought it'd be louder at this time of night."

"There's been complaints about the noise recently, they're trying to keep it down tonight." She explained, hopefully as rationally as it sounded in her head.

"You're out with him, aren't you?" Robin guessed immediately, not for one minute believing his little sister. It was a good reason, extremely good. Exactly why it was so unbelievable, "Haven't you been listening to a word I've been saying, have you?!"

"Robin, I'm a legal adult now, I can do what I want." She hissed, keeping her voice low so as not to attract any more attention, "I can look after myself."

"But you don't know him, he's dangerous." Robin replied, his voice getting louder and angrier as he failed to get through to her.

"Not this again." She sighed, exasperated, "What exactly makes him so much more dangerous than my last boyfriend?"

"He's a…" Robin went suddenly quiet, thinking hard before saying, "I didn't want to have to tell you this, but…he's a vampire."

"A what?" She couldn't help bursting out laughing, despite her trying to restrain herself, "I know you're obsessed with vampires, but that's just ridicu-" She stopped, her face draining as the cogs started ticking, spinning so fast that all the opened up memories flowed before her eyes in one long continuous stream, no memory showing more than a few seconds. Those two years she'd spent with Vlad years before she'd 'first met him', the sweet, determined boy he'd been and…and…her eyes darted down to stare at her suddenly intriguing spaghetti Bolognese.

"What's the matter?" Vlad looked concerned, but there was something else to it now…now she could see why she was so attracted to him, why his eyes were so inviting and his charm was so indescribable, "What did he say?"

"Um…um…" She couldn't speak, couldn't say a word.

Her grip on her phone loosened, leaving it free for Vlad to pull from her hand and press to his ear, "You said something to her to make her go quiet. What was it?"

While Vlad snarled down the phone (she couldn't quite distinguish words), everything she knew now and everything she thought she'd known before clashing together, trying to make some sort of sense of it. One couldn't quite work while the other one was true, and for a while there was a struggle for which was correct.

Vlad hung up, rolling his eyes, "Robin's so over the top sometimes." He sighed casually, "Well, I suppose since now you know one of my secrets you may as well know the other. I…" He inhaled quickly, "I don't like you. Not in that way, at least."

"W-what?" For a moment, she was silent, then quietly asked, "So you were using me…what for? Free meals? Sex?"

"Both." He smirked, "But come on, you like me like that, so what's the problem? We both got something out of it for free."

There was an awkwardly tense moment where niether Chloe nor Vlad had anything they could or would say. Then, completely without warning, Chloe raised her arm and struck Vlad across the face, leaving a red mark where her hand had made contact.

"What the fuck was that for?!" Vlad yelped, caught off guard by this sudden act of violence.

"Nothing comes for free, Vlad." Chloe replied coldly.


	2. Slayers and Traitors

_A/N: This came from a sudden want to write from Jonathan's POV, so I thought 'why the hell not' and came out with this. Thanks to Werepuppy/Zara for her Chronicles of Life and Unlife series, as it gives me something to write when I lack anything else, and it's refreshingly fun to look through the eyes of different characters. Enjoy, read and review._

Slayers and Traitors

Jonathan Van Helsing hadn't been able to ease up on training recently, having to spend every second of spare time kicking the crap out of straw dummies and shooting very precisely at cardboard cut outs. When his Dad asked him why he was doing this, he just made up something about wanting to keep his mother safe, anything that wasn't related to vampires.

Slaying was a tough enough job by itself, having to keep details from leaking to the public (their job was harder with people panicking or thinking they were madmen) as well as defend the innocent from any attacks. This became even harder to pull off with his parents living so happily together with him now they knew nothing about vampires or slaying. And as if all that wasn't enough, his destiny was to slay the Grand High Vampire, supposedly the most powerful vampire of all.

It didn't help that Jonno remembered how Vlad had been before he knew he was a vampire, but for the most part he managed to suppress these memories. Vampires were the scum of the earth, taking innocent lives for their own greed and selfish motives without so much as batting an eyelid. Such immoral creatures had to be eliminated for the good of mankind.

Jonno was well aware of the danger he was putting his family in by even having any association with the Slayer's Guild. If his Dad remembered anything, he'd start obsessing over slaying again, something which had already torn their mother from him once, not to mention how unskilled he was at it. His mother also had some traumatic memories associated with vampires, something he didn't want her to have to live with.

As well as the memories, there was also the fact they'd be prime targets for attack. They weren't exactly in hiding, and it wasn't above vampires to emotionally exploit him to 'negotiate' a retreat. The very idea sent chills through him, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to live with either choice.

He hadn't been so keen on the idea at first. After everything he'd been put through the first time around trying to slay the Draculas, he was quite content if he never had to go through all that again. But the Slayer's Guild insisted that the coven weren't mistaken in his task as the Chosen Slayer and that destiny would find a way to come about on its own, whether it was the easy way or not. Sensibly, Jonno opted for easy, as he dreaded to think what alternatives destiny would come up with.

It was on one particularly intensive day of training that Jonno gained his unlikely ally. He was going through the Time Trial obstacle course the Guild had set up for him in the middle of the forest where usually nobody would dare explore when he saw her, someone he hadn't seen in a while.

"Chloe Branaugh?" He frowned as he hung upside down from a bar by his legs, "What're you doing so far out here?"

"Just wanted to go for a walk." Chloe replied casually, as if this was the most normal sight in the world. Compared to some of her memories of vampires, it probably was, "And I thought you might like to know a few things, like what's going on up at the castle."

"Go on..." His frown deepened as he skilfully swung down from his pole, landing just in front of her.

"It's Ingrid's wedding, didn't you know?" She smiled, hesitating slightly before saying, "I thought this would be the perfect time for an attack."

"I thought you and Vlad were dating." He raised an eyebrow, "How do I know he didn't send you to tell me something that isn't true?"

"He's a no good lying bastard who deserves the smack down you'll no doubt lay on him." Her tone was still quite casual, "And think about it, would he really send _me _of all people to set up a trap? He would've sent a total stranger or Ian or Paul, or someone with less reason to lie than me. I only want to help the Slayers in any way I can."

"You mean, you want to help...me?" Jonno was still a tiny bit suspicious.

"Call it a partnership if you will." She extended a hand out to him, "So, do you accept my assistance?"

He thought for a minute, calling on his gut instincts to help him. No reaction, she must be telling the truth. He shook the hand she'd held out to him, "You've got yourself a deal, Branaugh."

He took his phone from his pocket, dialling a number at rapid speed and saying immediately after it was answered, "Steve, I need you and Graham's teams in action pronto. It seems our plan will have to go ahead earlier than scheduled."

"What?!" Steve screamed down the phone, "There's no way, barely anyone on the teams even knows the plan exists, we'd have the shit beaten out of us."

Jonno sighed, "We've been through this, the teams themselves don't need to know the plan, just their current orders. And was that you questioning my judgement?"

Steve faultered, his nervous breath making the speaker crackle, "Well, no, but-"

"Then you and Graham had better get you and your team's arses down here so we can beat the shit out of the enemy before I beat the shit out of you." Jonno had mastered speaking casually but with just enough menace to make his threats stick, "And make sure we have Melech and Strigoi on standby. You never know what could happen."

There was a long pause before Steve answered, "We'll be there in twenty minutes max, and I'll get Graham to pass on the message."

Jonno hung up, grinning broadly. He hadn't been up to the castle in years, and now all his overly extensive training would finally amount to something. 'Hmm...' He wondered, 'Did I sharpen my stakes recently enough?'


End file.
